Reading Aloud and Beyond: Fostering the Intellectual Life with Older Readers by Cyndi Giorgis and Frank Serafini and

Learning Under the Influence of Language and Literature: Making the Most of Read-Alouds Across the Day by Lester Laminack and Reba M. Wadsworth

Target Audience: Grades 3-5 educators

Reading aloud to students often stops in the primary grades; but reading aloud is a powerful instructional tool for students in the upper elementary grades as well. Through the lens of the read-aloud, participants will learn about the specific elements of author’s craft, ways to help students think and talk about them, how these elements build from grade 3 to grade 5, and various resources, both print and digital, for finding text to investigate author’s craft. Both fiction and nonfiction will be discussed, and although the focus will be on the skills listed below, others may be included. Planning time for implementation of ideas in the classroom will be included in class time. Time will also be spent exploring the use of the read-aloud in grades 3-5, the importance of reading aloud to students in the intermediate grades, and how the read-aloud fits into the structure of the reading workshop and the school day.

Learning Outcomes:1. Participants will become familiar with the reasons for, and research that supports, reading aloud to students.2. Participants will become familiar with various types of read-alouds, including interactive read-alouds.3. Participants will learn how to use picture books and novels to study author’s craft with students.4. Participants will understand, and learn to facilitate, discussion and response to text about the following elements of author’s craft: form and organization, perspective, use of techniques to build suspense, and figurative language.5. Participants will keep a reader’s notebook in which they will practice ways of responding to text.6. Participants will build a 4 week plan for using read-alouds to explore author’s craft in their own classrooms which will include: specific read aloud lessons that facilitate discussion and response to text and help students build an understanding of author’s craft, a bibliography of read-aloud texts, a daily plan for using read-alouds, and a long-term plan for using read-alouds.

Hilary Kissel is a reading specialist, educator, and enthusiastic connoisseur of children’s literature who enjoys helping teachers to see the essential role that well-written children’s books play in reading and writing development read more